Part 1:

Yuuki was looking at the guild jobs board, trying to make sense of a strange job that had been posted.

"Help wanted!

In the elves' woods are some types of creatures made of sticks that are attacking people who enter the woods late at night. They've also been involved in stealing fruit and other valuables from adventurers.

When confronted the creatures claim they are doing it for their queen. Any adventurer who can defeat these creatures will be rewarded greatly."

"That's quite a strange job request."

Yuuki jumped a bit and turned around to find Karin, who ran the guild association.

"My apologies Yuuki, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright. Do you know anything else about this request here?"

"Only other thing I know is rumors of tree creatures attacking adventures in the woods. I'm not sure when the attacks themselves started, but I know this request was posted yesterday."

"Do you think it could be someone pulling a prank?"

"Could be, it is Halloween season. If that's the case though, they're taking it way too far."

"Well, let me try to get to the bottom of this." Yuuki said, grabbing the request off the board.

"Thank you Yuuki. Do be careful though, I don't want you getting hurt out there."

And with that, Yuuki headed out the door to find out what was going on in the woods.

Part 2:

"I probably should have done this earlier in the day." Yuuki said to himself as he made his way towards the woods. The sun was getting ready to set, but Yuuki was still determined to find out what exactly was happening in those woods, especially for the sake of his friends who lived there.

Once inside, Yuuki took a look around carefully. So far, nothing seemed to be a miss.

"According to the request, I need to be on the lookout for any creatures made of sticks, but so far I don't see any." Yuuki said to himself. That's when he heard someone call his name.

"Yuuki…Yuuki…"

Yuuki turned around to see where the source of the voice was coming from, but didn't see anyone. He then called out to see if anyone was there. Yuuki saw a bush start shaking ever so slightly on its own. He carefully went up to approach the bush, only to get grabbed from behind.

"Thank goodness you're here Yuuki!" Aoi said, hugging Yuuki tightly. The shy elf girl seemed quite shaken up and scared.

"What's wrong Aoi?" Yuuki asked.

"Well, it's my friends, they've gone crazy!"

"You're friends at school?"

"No…my…other friends. The one I made." Aoi said.

Before meeting the friendship club at Girls academy, Aoi had made "friends" to practice talking to. These friends were made up of sticks, leaves, and other materials that could be found in the woods.

"Other? As in the ones you made?"

"Y-yes. I don't know what happened. Just one morning when I woke up I was sitting on a bed of roses, and surrounding me were my friends I made. They told me I was their queen and they'd do anything for me."

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" Yuuki asked.

"I'm positive! My friends came to life and think I"m their queen. Really though, I probably don't deserve it for abandoning them for my new friends!"

"Look Aoi, I hate to break it to you, but your friends, the ones you made yourself in the woods, aren't alive."

"Are you sure about that ?"

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Um…Yuuki, that wasn't me…" Aoi said, confusing Yuuki as he had just heard Aoi's voice ask if Yuuki was sure that her friends weren't alive. Yuuki turned around to find one of Aoi's made up friends standing there, somehow holding a sword.

" , you're supposed to protect princess Aoi, why are you bothering her?"

Yuuki was too stunned to say anything as the wooden creature came closer to him.

"Please, don't hurt Yuuki! He's my friend."

"Well then he's not a very good friend, Aoi. You need friends you can count on, friends who can protect you, and be there no matter what."

"But that's exactly the type of friend Yuuki is!"

Just as Aoi finished saying that, one of the wooden friends grabbed her from behind and took her away.

"Aoi!" Yuuki shouted. Just then, the wooden doll with the sword charged at Yuuki, who barely dodged the attack with his sword.

"You're not a very good knight."

"And you're not a very good friend…"

Yuuki and the wooden doll clashed it out in the woods, their swords clashing with one another. Yuuki got the sword out of the doll's hand, leaving him defenseless.

"Looks like I win…" he said with a smirk.

"That's what you think…"

Suddenly, a net plopped down on Yuuki, pinning him down to the ground. As the net fell, so did some purple like powder. As Yuuki breathed it in, he started to become more and more sleepy.

"Sweet dreams …" the wooden doll said as he walked away from Yuuki, who slowly passed out, still pinned under the net.

Part 3:

Yuuki was starting to come too when he felt someone petting his head softly. As Yuuki opened his eyes, he saw Ranpha, looking down at him with a worried look on her face.

"Yuuki? Are you awake?"

"Yeah…Ranpha, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I found you in the woods under a net." she said.

"And…what were you doing in the woods?"

"Just going for a walk…" in truth, Ranpha was looking for Yuuki, wanting to spend more time with the young man after their encounter in her dream. Only problem was she could never find the right time or position to do so, due to how many women he'd be around on his adventures.

Yuuki realized he was lying on Ranpha's lap and quickly got up, blushing a bit.

"Are you OK Yuuki?"

"Physically, yes, but mentally I won't be if I don't save Aoi."

"Aoi?"

Yuuki quickly summed up the situation to Ranpha, explaining what happened to Aoi and how her friends she made had come to life and were treating her as though she was a queen.

"I see, this is one strange situation."

Yuuki nodded.

"Dispute that, however, I'd like to come along with you."

While Yuuki was a bit skeptical to the idea of letting Ranpha come along with him, especially since she was once a part of Rage Legion, even Yuuki could see that Ranpha had some sort of interest in him, and in turn was more friendly than other members of Rage Legion.

Aside from that, he was a bit desperate. Aoi was finally starting to open up to people. If word got out that it was her dolls that were doing all the attacking, she'd get attacked, which in turn would cause her to not want to be social with anyone (excluding him of course.)

"Sure, I could use your help." Yuuki said with a smile.

Part 4:

Aoi sat on a throne made of flowers by her wooden dolls come to life. The throne was well made, with all sorts of colorful flowers on it from front to back. Even in the darkness of the night, Aoi could still see the colorful flowers in the dark. Despite this, she wasn't very happy.

She had just witnessed one of her real friends get captured by a net.

"What's wrong princess?" the wooden doll with the sword asked.

"Yuuki…" Aoi muttered.

"Oh come on Aoi, will you forget about that guy? We're your dear friends! Not him!"

"Yeah but-"

"No buts." The doll said sternly, causing Aoi to look down scared.

"Come on Aoi, you have to do something!" she thought to herself. "Poor Yuuki could be getting fed to the wolves right now! There has to be something I can do!"

"Say, is it alright if I take a walk?" Aoi asked.

"Sure thing, but only if you allow one of us to come along."

"I appreciate that…but I like to walk alone."

"And now you don't need to…" the doll shot back. "Come princess, let us explore the woods together." the doll said, ushering Aoi along.

Meanwhile, Yuuki and Ranpha were carefully walking around the woods in search of Aoi or any of the wooden dolls. Ranpha had manifested a glowing blue orb to help Yuuki see in the dark.

"This should make it easier to see, but also might draw the enemies to us."

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind that. If we can find those wooden creatures, we can find Aoi. At least that's my hope." Yuuki responded.

The duo had been searching the woods for either Aoi or the wooden dolls come to life for quite some time, but with no luck. As much as Yuuki wanted to find Aoi, he also didn't want Kokkoro and his other guildmates to worry about him. Just as Yuuki was about to tell Ranpha to call off the search, he heard voices in the distance.

"Ranpha, turn down your light." Yuuki said. Ranpha did so and the two laid low as the voice got closer.

"Isn't this nice?" the wooden doll with the sword said. "Just you, me, and the crickets."

"Yeah…"Aoi said, still sounding glum.

"Come on Aoi, what do I have to do to cheer you up?" the doll said, sounding frustrated.

"I'm sorry…it's just I really want to see Yuuki…"

"Yuuki this, Yuuki that! What is your boyfriend?"

"No…I'm her best friend." Yuuki said, walking in front of Aoi and the wooden figure. "And the leader of team BB!"

"Damn you Yuuki! I was hoping you'd leave the forest after our last encounter, but I should have known better. Aoi has always talked about how brave you are and willing to help others no matter what."

As the doll said that, Aoi began to blush. Yuuki didn't notice however as he was facing the doll in question, his sword drawn, ready for battle.

"Will you be alright Yuuki?" Ranpha asked from the sidelines.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Yuuki said, looking back at her with a smile."

As soon as Yuuki turned to face the doll again, it charged at him with his sword. Yuuki blocked the attack and started to spar with the wooden doll. Even with the lack of light, the outline of the sword was all Yuuki needed to see for him to know where it was.

After clashing back and forth, Yuuki created some distance between him and the doll.

"Just give up Yuuki! Princess Aoi doesn't need guys like you in her life."

"Well too bad. I've been there for Aoi when she was struggling with her social skills, I'm not gonna leave her now."

Aoi came close to crying right then and there, deeply touched by Yuuki's words. Once again, the wooden doll charged at Yuuki. Yuuki ducked the attack, and quickly slashed his sword at the wooden doll's neck. The doll collapsed on its knees as its head rolled off slowly.

"That takes care of him…" Yuuki said, putting his sword back in its sleeve. As soon as he did that, Aoi ran up and hugged him tightly.

"Yuuki! I'm so sorry! I didn't know my dolls would come to life one day and try to attack you!" she said, sobbing into his chest.

"There, there…" Yuuki said, patting her head. "I didn't think they would either…but at least we got the main one down…"

"Don't remind me."

Yuuki, Aoi, and Ranpha jumped as they heard the voice of the doll come from behind them. Popping out of the doll was a small white creature that was transparent.

"OH my god! It's a ghost!" Aoi said, holding onto Yuuki even tighter.

"No…it's not a ghost…it's a Kodama." Yuuki said.

"A kodama?"

"Chika told me about them. Their tree spirits." Yuuki said, patting Aoi on the head.

"Yep. We wanted to get closer to Aoi as we thought she was cool, with her knowledge of plants, animals, and of course, taking care of trees. We never could find the perfect chance, until we got a bright idea: to take over her dolls, scare away any unwanted guests, and be able to talk to her."

"Nothing person, but you kind of caused a decent amount of trouble for everyone."

The Kodama simply scratched the back of it's head nervously, not sure what to say at Yuuki's statement. That's when Aoi got up close to the creature.

"While I'll admit it kind of freaked me out, I didn't mind having my dolls come to life that much. They were my friends before Yuuki and everyone else." Aoi said with a smile.

"That said, I think from her on out I'd like to interact with you guys as you are, instead of having you take over my dolls."

"Really?" The spirit asked.

Aoi nodded with a smile.

"Woo! I can't wait to tell everyone else!" the spirit said, jumping up and down in joy.

Part 5:

"Thanks for helping me out back there." Yuuki said to Ranpha. The two were walking back from the woods late at night, Ranpha following Yuuki close behind.

"Your welcome, though, I didn't really do much…" Ranpha said.

"Not true. You did release me from that net, and help me find my way around the woods with your light."

"I see. I'm glad I could be of assistance." Ranpha said quietly.

"Say Ranpha, are you staying somewhere?"

"Well…no. Dragon legion disbanded and I've mostly been staying at inns."

"You should come live with us in the gourmet guild house."

"Eh?"

The statement took Ranpha by surprise. Even after all the trouble she and Misa caused in Dragon Legion, Yuuki wanted her to stay with him and his other guildmates.

"Are you sure they'll be alright with it?"

"Yeah…I think they'll be alright with it."

"T-thank you…" Ranpha said with a smile.

"Interesting…" Misora said, as she watched the two walk off into the distance. Misora was leaning against a tree, her arms crossed as she observed Yuuki and Ranpha walking together.

"You fascinate me …Maybe we should meet again one day…"

next story: welcome to the gourmet guild-November 18th